Do Something
Delicious, the online food and drink experiential marketplace, has launched a
new online portal to showcase Scottish food and drink products and experiences
during Scotland's Year of Food and Drink 2015 at www.yearoffoodanddrink.com

To mark the
launch of the website and encourage more businesses to test out marketplace
selling as a platform, all listing fees for businesses signing up have been
scrapped until the end of September 2015.

Do Something
Delicious, launched by the team behind Savour the Flavours and Flavour Fortnight
at the end of 2014, provides business support, product development and a 'shop
window' for food and drink gifts and experiences.

Building on her
experience with Savour the Flavours, Dumfries & Galloway's regional food
and drink network, which ceased activity in 2013, Director Liz Ramsay said the
web portal had been developed in response to feedback from Scottish food and
drink businesses:

Liz said: “We
launched Do Something Delicious in December 2014 to bring small businesses
together and support them to deliver innovative products. Savour the Flavours
worked with producers, chefs, retailers, farmers' markets, events and consumers
to raise awareness of the exceptional local produce to be found in Dumfries
& Galloway and, on the back of this, Do Something Delicious was born to
support businesses from across the UK.

“As soon as we
got chatting to Scottish businesses we realised the Year of Food and Drink was
the ideal platform to promote artisanal, Scottish food and drink products.

“We are aiming
to complement and add value to the Year of Food and Drink Scotland 2015
campaign, which is a Scottish Government initiative led by VisitScotland with support from
Scotland Food & Drink, Think Local and other partners, by supporting
producers and other businesses who wish to make the most of the opportunities
available in 2015.

“Scotland is an
unforgettable destination where food is concerned – the public want access to
unique food and drink experiences, whether that's a tasting, a tour or a
hands-on workshop. The new website will host a variety of experiences and
products and visitors will be able to book directly through the site.”

Andrew Case of
Forrest Estate Experiences provides fishing tuition and country sports experiences
with a foodie twist to individuals and groups of visitors from across the
world. He was one of the first
businesses to sign up to the new initiative and he said that experience based
tourism offers tremendous potential for food businesses.

Andrew said:
“Scotland is known for its stunning landscapes, fresh quality food and its
international appeal. Thinking about how
we can involve visitors in unique, memorable, educational and inspirational
experiences gives Scotland's many food and drink producers a real opportunity
to shine. Food tourism is something
Scotland does naturally, but discovering these food tourism experiences can be
difficult. The approach taken by the Do
Something Delicious team in bringing people who offer these experiences
together is fantastic and I signed up as soon as I heard about it. It gives me a platform to showcase my
business and support at the end of the phone to discuss ideas and plans.”

Fiona Richmond
Scotland Food & Drink Project Manager said: “Do Something Delicious is
supporting the promotion of Scottish producers during the Year of Food and
Drink which will continue to grow the industry's profile. Thanks to our
excellent provenance and the quality of our fantastic larder, Scotland is
rightly reputed as a Land of Food and Drink.

“The Year is
being celebrated by a plethora of food and drink festivals, food trails and
themed menus - the products and experiences promoted by the site highlight the
wealth and variety of food and drink activities visitors and locals can enjoy.”

Scotland's Food
Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “Scotland has a stellar reputation as a Land
of Food and Drink – and it is a reputation that is well deserved. From our
popular whiskies and specialist beers to our fresh tasty Scotch Beef, succulent
seafood, Stornoway Black Pudding, and Traditional Ayrshire Dunlop Cheese which
was recently awarded EU protected status, Scotland is home to a fine variety of
delicious food and beverages that are the envy of countries around the world.

“This is Scotland's Year of Food and Drink and
I am pleased to see so many Scottish food and drink businesses getting behind
our campaigns to eat and sell fresh, local in-season produce. This year gives
us a great opportunity to showcase the fantastic natural larder Scotland
offers, our impeccable provenance credentials and iconic products that are
loved both at home and abroad. I hope everyone gets behind the industry and
supports it throughout the Year of Food and Drink and beyond.”

As part of the
Year of Food & Drink celebrations April has been named the month of 'Award
Winning Food', and award winning food producers including Mara Seaweed, Scotia
Spice, Galloway Chillies and iQ Chocolate are among the Scottish food producers
signing up to be involved.

Mara Seaweed
was recently named the only Scottish finalist in the prestigious BBC Food &
Farming Awards, in the category of Best Food Producer.

Fiona Houston,
CEO of Mara, said:
"YearofFoodandDrink.com is a great platform to celebrate the
delicious food produced lovingly and authentically, and Mara Seaweed is very
happy to be part of this exciting new food journey. 2015 is a big year for Mara too and with 2015
being Scotland's Year of Food and Drink we are proud to be flying the flag for
Scotland by reaching the final three in
BBC Food & Farming Awards for Best Producer. We are hugely excited about the potential to
grow the Mara brand alongside partners like Do Something Delicious."

On responding
to the Year of Food and Drink initiative, Liz Ramsay added: “Year of Food and
Drink gives us all a reason to think a little differently, perhaps more
innovatively, about our industry and about our relationships with
customers. We want to bring businesses
together to support them to develop their products and experiences and to share
their passions.

“Food and drink
producers are often very modest about what they do, and marketplaces can be a
good way to overcome that modesty.
YearofFoodandDrink.com is all about making artisan and speciality food
and drink more active, participatory and connected; helping businesses shout
that bit louder and helping members of the public uncover delicious and
unforgettable experiences.”

Popular posts from this blog

A lot is spoken about Yorkshire pudding but is in not such a very difficult thing to do. All it is, is a batter mix that is put in a mould with some oil so that it soufflés up as it bakes. As long as you follow a few simple rules then you should have a perfect pudding every time.

Now a lot of propel say that you need a strong bread flour to make a god batter for Yorkshire puddings but I have found that over time it does not really matter. But if you are going to use a strong flour let it rest for a little longer to allow the glutens to start working and get soaked up in the liquid .

Take you flour and sift it in to a bowel to make sure that you do not get any lumps. Then make a well in the middle and crack your eggs in to that. Now taking a whisk start to work the eggs in to the flour. It will start to from a thick paste. If you think that it is getting to hard to work then ad…

Manna from Devon Cooking School is delighted to announce the
dates for the 2017 Guest Chef Classes: a series of celebrity chefs and foodie
experts will be running classes at the school from March until September.
These guest days only pop up once a month and usually book
up pretty quickly, a true reflection on the talent and reputation of each chef.
This year's Guest Chef classes are being hosted by Peter Greig of Pipers Farm,
Mitch Tonks of Rockfish and The Seahorse, Romy Gill MBE from Romy's Kitchen and
food writer Charlotte Pike with another two hosts in the pipeline.
David, co-owner of Manna from Devon comments on the Guest
Chef programme: “Holly and I are really excited to confirm we've got some of
our best foodie friends joining us in 2017- we hope you can join us too! It's
important for us to involve other chefs and experts here at Manna from Devon,
as we're all about the community aspect of cooking; connecting lots of people
through food and drawing on the…